Find A Way
by belgiques
Summary: Tyler returns to Mystic Falls, to Caroline. How will they both react to all that's happened and is still happening? AU, takes place somewhere between 2x15 and 2x20. Tyler/Caroline, with OC.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own TVD. Otherwise, Matt would be a badass character.

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><p><strong>Find A Way<strong>

Right. He'd had enough with the pacing and the waiting. He was back home - where he belonged, he now realized - and he needed to see her. Talk to her. Get them to repair their broken friendship that could've easily turned into something more.

He'd returned to Mystic Falls because he kept thinking about her, and he knew the truth now. Well, most of it anyway. Somehow, Jules had found out what was going on with Caroline and the Salvatores. The whole deal with Elena - or the vampire who looked an awful lot like her, Katherine. Apparently it had something to do with a really old vampire. A vampire who wanted to harm Elena, but who was invincible. And Caroline was involved in it. That's all he really needed to know. He'd known them both since kindergarten and while he didn't want anything to happen to Elena, he knew Caroline was the reason he actually decided to go back.

He stood in front of the Salvatore boarding house, silently going over things he could say. It depended on who opened the door.

I wasn't Caroline.

"Elena, hey. It _is_Elena, right?" he asked the brunette in front of him. He didn't exactly know how alike her and Katherine were.

"Tyler.." she said with a mixture of relief and shock.

Then Stefan came up behind her, surprise all over his face.

Tyler grinned, "Yes. Hi, Elena."

Elena smiled genuinely and reached out to hug him, like she'd done not too long before he left. "I'm so glad you're okay." she whispered.

"You too. I mean that." he replied, squeezing her hand before turning to her boyfriend. "Stefan. I'm sorry about everything that happened that night, I want you to know that."

Stefan had his ever-present calming but brooding expression on and shook Tyler's hand. "I know. We have bigger issues to worry about now. It's in the past."

He nodded thankfully. There was a short silence as Tyler shifted nervously on his feet. Elena and Stefan shared a knowing glance.

"Is she here?" he ultimately brought out, the anxiousness building up inside of him.

"Yeah, where else would she be?" Elena said, sadness clouding her voice a bit. Clearly he'd missed something. "Come on in."

He walked through the enormous mansion to find Damon in the living room with a glass of bourbon in his hand. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of him, grinning fiercely.

"Ah, the long lost son returns!" he exclaimed, complete with dramatic hand gestures. Before he could say anything more, Tyler put up his hand to silence him.

"Shut it, Salvatore. Right now, I have nothing to say to you."

The anger that rose up quickly dissipated when Damon called for 'Blondie' to come downstairs. He froze at the rumbling he heard upstairs, signaling she was coming. Suddenly, it was as if his mind went blank. What was he going to say to her? Would she even listen?

The thoughts quickly faded from his mind when she came down the stairs. Caroline was just as gorgeous as he could remember. But something was different. She seemed... Older. He knew it was impossible but she'd changed. Just like he had.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw him. She peeked around the room at her friends, like she was sure they were fooling her. That him being there was some kind of joke. A joke to hurt her.

Everyone knew how hurt she'd been because all of it. Her capture, his betrayal, him leaving without saying goodbye - not even a note like his mom had received. But most of all she was hurt because she cared. She still did. She _always_did. Caroline believed that if he had just stayed, they would've worked it out. Instead she was left feeling alone, again.

"Tyler..." His name came out merely a whisper. She took a moment to regain her composure before speaking again. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm back. I needed... I needed to see you. Get you to talk to me. To hear me out." he said, very aware of the fact that everyone was looking at them. Caroline didn't seem to care.

"You didn't hear me out when I asked you." she replied half- angry and half-saddened. He deserved that, everything she said was true. He closed his eyes for a moment, sighing. It was true. If he had just given her time to explain, given her the benefit of the doubt like she deserved, maybe none of this would've happened. But it was too late, he'd taken a decision and he needed to fix it now.

"Please, Caroline. Can we talk?"

He saw the hesitation in her eyes. "I can't leave. You don't know what's going on-"

"I'll protect you." He said determined, locking his eyes with hers. "I won't let you down. Not again. And we don't have to leave if you don't want to."

She stayed silent for a moment during which Tyler quickly lost his courage. If she was this unsure of whether she could trust him...

That's why he was more than relieved when she suddenly nodded. "Okay. Let's go to my room."

He followed her to one of the many bedrooms in the house, but when he walked in he could see Caroline had been there for a while. Some of her stuff was scattered around the space, including photo frames and the stuffed unicorn she'd had since she was little.

She closed the door and just kind of hovered near it as she slowly turned to him.

"Where have you been, Tyler?" Her voice was small, he knew he had put her on the spot by showing up out of the blue. Exactly how he had left.

"All around. Jules took me to some of the wolf packs she knows. They taught me stuff, told their stories, ... A few of them actually knew Mason."

He remembered them, the ones who told him stories about his uncle. What disappointed him the most was that they didn't seem to know him at all. Even though they'd been in the same pack for a long time, they weren't close. It was as if they were simply stuck with each other because of this curse.

"Then why did you come back?"

He sat down on the bed tentatively. She might not like his answer, considering the way they left things.

"Because as much as they tried to reassure me and told me I'd get used to it, I didn't. I never could. With them, it was just empty conversations and getting through it all. Here it wasn't like that at all. Here I had you. So I came back."

She was still standing in front of him, shuffling nervously on her feet. A glint of anger appeared in her eyes.

"You can't expect me to just forgive you, Tyler. You left me to die when I needed you. And yeah, I lied to you. I should've told you about Mason, Stefan and Damon and everything else. I decided against it because you had enough problems already. I didn't want to pile it onto you all at once. Did I really deserve to die for that?"

Her expression was something between pleading and challenging. Tyler stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders, squeezing gently.

"Of course not. Caroline, I have no excuses, no valuable ones anyway. I realized that quickly after you left with Stefan and Damon, but I knew it was too late. I was tired of standing between two fires, so I just left." He looked at her the whole time he talked. It didn't help that he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

"Why didn't you say goodbye?" Her question came suddenly, her tone a little softer than before. He wanted nothing more than to erase that distraught look from her face.

"I wanted to. Every time I decided to go and talk to you, I was reminded of what you said to me. So I thought it was for the best if I didn't do anything."

"Do you understand how much it hurt having to find out you were gone from your mom and Matt, of all people?"

"I wanted to talk to _you_, Caroline, but I couldn't. So I just said it all to Matt."

This time, she scrunched up her face in confusion. Uh-oh. Was he going to have to tell her himself? Damn Matt, the one time he was actually allowed to blab...

"Matt didn't tell me anything. What did you say to him?"

"I uh.. I said that you had helped me through some stuff and that... That I kinda fell for you. But that I thought you deserved someone like Matt and that he needed to be good to you."

He was afraid to look at her. This was probably the first time in all his life that Tyler was afraid of being rejected. Since mostly, he was the one on the other end.

He heard her release the breath that she had apparently been holding. Good or bad sign? He wasn't sure.

"You really said that?" she asked softly. Her tone made him look up at her. He instantly remembered why he'd said all of it. He didn't stand a chance when it came to her. He nodded slowly, continuing to look her in the eyes.

"But... When?"

He sighed this time. To be honest, this wasn't the response he'd hoped for, but it was the one he had expected. He knew what she meant by asking 'when'.

"I don't know, Caroline. All I can say is that somewhere down the line, instead of Caroline, the insecure but stubborn girl I grew up with, you became Caroline, the _beautiful_but stubborn girl who's been my rock, while ignoring all the risks that came with it."

That seemed to shut her up completely. Great. She knew he was waiting for an answer though.

"I know." she said at last.

"I'm sorry?"

"I know, Tyler. I know what you mean. The indifferent, arrogant jock turned into my friend who deals with feelings." She chuckled a bit, which in turn put a slight smile on his face. "Actually, he became more than my friend."

And that was it. That was all Tyler needed. He leaned forward tentatively and kissed her when she didn't move away. Her lips were colder than his - _naturally_, but the spark that went through him made him forget all about the rest.

Suddenly though, he felt her hand pushing him away.

"We can't, Tyler." She looked very panicked all of a sudden, so much it worried him a little.

"Why not?" He asked, a little defensive.

"Because... Because- I'm a vampire and you're a werewolf! Were not supposed to be-"

"That's just an excuse and you know it." He replied, taking her hand and making her look at him. "Look at Stefan and Elena. They make it work, despite everything."

"But we're-"

"No buts. We're just Tyler and Caroline right now. The rest of it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me."

"But it matters to _me_! I have lost so much lately, and all these things have happened and I just- I cannot lose you too. This will only mess things up. You're one of the only people I have left." Tears welled up in her eyes and Tyler felt the sudden urge to punch something.

"Caroline, what _happened_? I don't understand what could've-"

"My mom found out. She knows what I am and she kicked me out last week."

She was near sobbing and he couldn't handle crying Caroline. He was astounded that Liz just kicked her own daughter out of her home. The sheriff loved her daughter more than anything, the whole town knew that.

"She said she wouldn't _kill_me if I moved out and stayed away. So I did."

She let herself fall on the bed slightly and wiped a few tears away with the palm of her hand.

"I miss her, Tyler. Stefan and Elena are amazing, Damon has his moments. But she's still my mom."

"Well, she's wrong. And I'm sorry, Caroline, but if she doesn't realize that, she's not worth keeping in your life. I know that sounds harsh, but it's true. This year, you've been stronger and more confident than I've ever seen you. Don't let her convince you of anything else. You've got a whole group of people who love you."

That seemed to hit a nerve with Caroline as she calmed down and looked at him again, slightly smiling. And deep down, he knew Liz would come around. He would find a way to make sure that happened.

"You're right. Yeah, you're right." she repeated, a little more convinced this time. "I have great things going for me. I'm alive, I've got great friends, I look great most of the time-"

Tyler couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. It was moments like this when he knew why he liked her so much.

"And I have you. As my friend, for now." She made sure to look at him in a way he'd understand. She needed time. And that was exactly what he'd give her.

"Come here." she added, pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"I'm glad you're back, Tyler." he heard her whisper; something he had longed for, but not something he had expected.

Just like his relationship with Caroline Forbes.

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><p><em>I hope you liked it! If you do, please tell me so :D<em>

_- Elien_


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